Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-02-03

lear eve. Just tnen thankful directed
her mothers attention to q figure advanc-
| ing slowly up the slope toward the cottage.
"Wheres" asked Mrs. Benson. Il don't
zee it.''
'swhy, there, " said Thankful, with out
stretched finger. Its man He's COM
ing this way. He--he looks like Jack"
| She started up and advanced to meet
him. Mrs. Benson strained her eyes, but
could see nothing like q human figure.
She saw Thankful advance few PAGES,
stretch out her arms as If to embrace some
one, and then fall senseless to the ground.
When Mrs. Benson carried her in and
revived her she started up and cried for
Jack.
''My dear child, be calm," said the
mother. "He is not here. He has not
been here"
Eyes, yes.-he was! l saw him-I al
most touched him. He came close up to
me, and then he disappeared and could
not see him"
The mother looked at her with grief
and awe.
Dear Thankful" she said, with deep
solemnity, ''be strong; cast your burden
on the Lord, and bear your grief as have
borne mine. You have not seen john
Sturdy: you have seen his double. You
| will never see him again"
For the next year their lives went on
with that sense of chastened sorrow that
possesses those whose only hope in this
world is reft away. Mother and daughter
drew closer together N their companion
ship of bereavement. Life for them was
all in the past; their present comfort was
orolv tbof of y,,ipiufar;pry onpolc To ho
sick and afflicted, and thus to
learn the luxury Of doing good.
The only news that had been received
from the Chevalier was darkly confirma-
tory of the vision that Thankful had seen.
One Of the boats had been found floating
in the south Pacific, empty and oarless: a
ship wrapped in fire from stem to stern
had been sighted afar off in those waters,
where help could not be extended nor in
quiry made.
They lived on during that year and sor-
row grew old and was still as dark as
ever. Their neighbors consoled with them
and hoped that the time would come when
grief would be calmed, and that life might
yet have some pleasure for these afflicted
ones. Would that time ever come 10
Thankful. Not, surely, at such time as
this, when the new year was again at
hand. 1t could bring no hope nor
promise to her; but the time as long as
she should live, must be in her mind assO-
ciated with his last words to her: ''Ex-
pect me back by the next new year.
shall hasten everything for your sake"
1t was very different New Years eve
from the last. The harbor was locked in
ice; snow covered the ground; the air
was singing with frost. A clear sound
pf bells from the town, as the new year
was gleefully rung in, came up to them
as they sat by their fire No speech had
passed between them for an hour As the
last peal Of the bells died away, Mrs.
Benson said:
at is all hard to bear, Thankful We
must learn to bear"
The girl started up with clasped hands
and passionately exclaimed: ''But never
to see him again-though / may live for
fifty years! l can't endure the thought.
He came to me once after death-why not
AGAIN."
The door noiselessly unclosed and ad-
mitted a moving figure. 1t advanced to-
ward them; they looked at the face, spell
bound. 1t was pale, wan, wasted, but it
bore the likeness of John Sturdy
No wOmanly fright, no terror of the su-
pernatural possessed Thankful in that
moment. Glad to have seen his face again
in answer to her appeal, her loving yearn-
ing heart hungered for something more
than his shadow. She started toward him
she opened wide her arms to him.
80, JOHN" she said, don't do as you
did before! You said you would come
back at this time"
Her loving arms embodied him. Thank
God, IL was not shadow!-it was John
Sturdy, weak, sick, f,eble-but it was he
They had the happiest kind of New
Year, after all. When the first greetings
were Over and Mrs. Benson had refreshed
him with tea, and he and Thankful sat
side by side, hand in hand, inexpressibly
glad, for want of words-then he told tie
story of his adventures and escapes by sea
and land, out of all of which he had been
saved to them.
Some day he will tell it in print. 1t is
too long to tell here.
When he had finished Mrs. Benson
asked: "Where were you a year ago to-
night, Johni Thankful thought she saw
you"
He looked inquiringly at his betrothed. |
She told him all
'"That was the night" !" he said, swhen |
the officers and crew of the poor burning |
Chevalier took to the boats in heavy sea. |
One boat was swamped before my eyes |
and all in it were drowned. Ours rolled |
and pitched SO heavily in the chopping |
waves that expected we, too, should per- |
ish. 1t was just then, while was hope |
lessly directing the men at the oars, that a |
vision came before my eyes Of the harbor |
hereof the town and this cottage. Isaw |
you both, and Thankful held out her arms |
to me. From that instant 1 knew we |
should be reunited. Yes, / knew 1t, and |
cherished the belief and Rugged it to my |
heart in all the dangers and iabors that
have beset me since. james Franklin |
Fits In New York News.